Where Worlds Collide

The sea wall at Dawlish is one of the classic stretches of main line in Britain. Generations of enthusiasts have made the pilgrimage to this scenic location, and taken probably millions of photographs over the years.

But now the famous location living on borrowed time, thanks to global warming.

Most travellers get their first glimpse of the sea as trains thunder over the line’s most dramatic stretch at Dawlish, where the line runs below sandstone cliffs only a few feet from the English Channel. At other times of the year, the trains get soaked by waves and trains arrive in Exeter and Teignmouth with seaweed still clinging to the carriages.

Such glories may not last much longer, however - for climatologists, transport experts and politicians have warned that rising sea levels and increasingly ferocious sea surges, triggered by global warming, now threaten the existence of the line along some of south Devon’s most beautiful coastline.

‘It is not going to be possible to run trains over that stretch for much longer,’ said the Conservative MP for Totnes, Anthony Steen. ‘Climate change is going to see to that. We need Network Rail and the Department of Transport to act now. At this rate Devon and Cornwall will lose its only rail link with the rest of England.’

There have been proposals for many years to replace this scenic stretch with a completely new inland route, probably mostly in tunnel. While it will be sad to see the end of the sea wall, keeping a rail link to Plymouth and Cornwall must ultimately come first. Let’s hope it actually gets built before it becomes impossible to keep the sea wall stretch open to traffic.

I’ve started getting emails from a Masonic mailing list that I’ve certainly never subscribed to. I’m not sure whether it’s a fake by a spammer trolling for addresses, or whether it’s a legitimate email list with a somewhat clueless admin. Googling on the guy’s name turns up a complete blank, but I’m still reluctant to use the ‘unsubscribe’ link, because too many spammers used fake unsubscribes to confirm live addresses.

The message at the bottom implies a clueless list administrator.

Let me remind you again that I try very hard to keep people off the list that don’t want to be on there in the first place, and if they do end up on there accidentally, I get them off the list as quickly as possible. If you sent in a request to be removed and you’re still getting this email, please, read the information at the bottom. It’s as simple as that. Big fonts, cussing, threats, etc.. have no impact on getting you removed.

A lot of clues in there to indicate that false subscribes are a major problem for his list. Has this guy never heard of double opt-ins or confirmation emails? The longwinded unsubscribe stuff at the bottom does make it look as though he’s maintaining the thing by hand.

If you get emails after you’ve asked to be removed it means one of several things

1. I didn’t get your request to remove you.

This happens OFTEN, I am sad to report. Just because you sent it and it didn’t bounce back to you, does NOT mean that I got your email. Try sending it again.

2. You have more than one address on the list that needs to be removed.

VERY, VERY common!! The email address YOU enter into YOUR email program (such as Outlook Express) is simply the email address you type in. I have had MANY people make a mistake in typing their email address into THEIR system which means that when I try to remove your address from my list, I can’t find it — because it’s not on there. As an example - If my real email address is xxxx@xxxxexxxxx.com but I ACCIDENTALLY enter my email address as xxxx@xxxxxxxx (the E is missing) then when someone hits “REPLY” their email will go to xxxx@xxxxxxxxx.com. I will NOT get that email.

3. Someone is forwarding my emails to you.

I can’t control them. Sorry….

4. You email me to remove you from a DIFFERENT EMAIL ADDRESS than the one on the list.

This happens ALLLLLLL the time! If you get my emails at work and you email me from your home, it’s your HOME address that shows up on my computer. I MUST have the email addresses that you use so I can gladly remove them, please.

5. BIGGEST PET PEEVE OF MINE —

I have had people SWEAR to me that they didn’t have any other email addresses. I would search and search for their address but I wouldn’t be able to find it. FINALLY, they would say something like - “Oh yeah — I DO get mail at (insert an email address they NEVER told me about before.) If you EVER get email at an address, it MIGHT be on the list. If you get email from me after you asked to be removed, you MUST send me the emails that you use so I can accommodate your request. This is a free service project which takes a lot of my time. I love providing this information to the Fraternity. But I will no longer play “hunt and seek” for email addresses. I can and will ONLY remove email addresses which you provide to me. I can’t spend all day trying to guess which email address you MIGHT have that you forgot to mention to me.

I maintain a very strict “remove” policy. When asked to remove an address, I remove it immediately.

If for some reason you can’t get an email through to me, just drop me a note at: some PO box in Texas I will reply.

The bottom line is simple - I ONLY want people on this list that WANT to be on it. If you don’t want to be on it, please let me know. This newsletter goes around the world. I’d like to spend my time sending it to folks who want it.

I expect better things from mailing lists adminstered by people called Carl. Anyone else been getting these?